The air howled like a feral beast, ripping through the endless golden expanse.
Lucius trudged forward, one boot sinking into the soft, coarse dunes, the other barely lifting before the storm clawed at him again. The desert had no mercy. His coat snapped behind him in the wind like a tattered banner, his scarf pulled tight over his mouth to block out the sting of dust and grit that sought to bury him alive.
Every step felt the same. Every direction looked identical. Sand. Heat. Screaming wind.
He could barely see five meters ahead.
The monotone reports from his Aetheris floated across his peripheral vision in dull white text. Lucius narrowed his eyes, muttering under his breath,
"Yeah, nothing yet."
He stopped walking and crouched low to the sand, pressing his gloved palm against it. The ground was faintly trembling, vibrating — not from the wind, but from movement. Small, rhythmic pulses below. He focused, letting the mana in his body spread downward through his hand, forming thin threads that penetrated through the sand.
"Mana Pulse..!."
He closed his eyes.
There — faint distortions. Something alive was burrowing below. But not close enough to attack yet.
Lucius's brow furrowed beneath the scarf. "Seems like the Scourge Stalkers are still roaming this zone… though I haven't seen a sign of their nest."
Standing, he brushed sand from his sleeve, his expression calm, almost detached. Even in such a hostile environment, his breathing was even — his focus unwavering.
The [Serenity'sEmbrace] passive worked exactly as intended, keeping the panic and fatigue at bay. Where any other student might've gone insane from the ceaseless storm and heat, Lucius merely endured.
He raised his wrist and looked at the Aetheris display again.
Two objectives blinked faintly in blue text:
[Primary Objectiv]:
Retrieve the Artifact of the Ashen Sands.
— Artifact Location: Undetermined
— Estimated Reward: Advancement to Phase 4.]
[Optional Objective]:
Uncover the Cause of the Valtherion Empire's Fall.
— Data fragments scattered throughout simulation.
— Optional Reward: Knowledge Fragment + Bonus Points.]
Lucius frowned.
"Primary's straightforward. Optional's… unnecessary."
He exhaled softly, though the storm drowned out the sound. His tone was thoughtful — not dismissive, but calculating.
"Still, the Valtherion Empire…" he murmured. "It fell for a reason."
A brief flicker of memory crossed his mind. Decade Long Crusade, the novel he'd read back in his world — the story he was now living In the novel, Asher and his party were the ones who uncovered the truth behind the Empire's destruction.
He shook his head.
"I already know how it ends," he muttered. "Knowing it now won't change anything."
And yet — curiosity scratched at the back of his mind like an itch he couldn't quite ignore. A historian's whisper, calling him deeper into the sands. He clicked his tongue and dismissed the thought.
"Focus on the artifact. Nothing else."
But the quiet of the storm left too much space for thought.
Each grain of sand he stepped on felt like walking across time itself — the remnants of a dead civilization buried beneath centuries of mana and dust. The Valtherion Empire, once known as the Empire of Light, had ruled half the continent with its technological marvels and mana-reactive weapons. Their downfall, according to scraps of the novel, was said to have been divine punishment — a curse that turned their capital into glass.
Lucius adjusted his scarf. "If mana was this thin back then… no wonder their constructs failed."
He looked up at the horizon, where dark shapes occasionally flickered — mirages born of heat and exhaustion.
"Or maybe something far worse did them in."
…..
Hours passed, or perhaps minutes. Time was distorted in the storm.
Lucius pressed onward, stopping occasionally to send another mana pulse into the ground, each one confirming the same result — nothing solid, no artifacts detected.
But he wasn't without ideas.
The way the sand shifted, the faint downward incline of the terrain, the traces of mana disturbance in the air — they hinted at something large buried nearby. A flow. A sort of, vein.
He smirked faintly beneath his scarf.
"A Mana Vein… the lifeblood of the world," he said quietly.
Mana Veins; were the world's natural conduits of energy — immense underground rivers of raw magical essence, flowing and pulsing beneath the crust. Every nation, guild, and kingdom sought them. They could power weapons, cities, and ancient artifacts. But they were volatile — extremely unstable. Disturbing one without caution could turn an entire region into a wasteland.
In the old world of Valtherion, cities were built on Mana Veins — believing themselves blessed. Their arrogance led to their doom when a chain of ruptures triggered continent-wide devastation.
Lucius remembered those passages vividly from the novel. He'd almost scoffed at the stupidity of that empire back then — yet now, walking their ruins, he felt a strange pang of melancholy.
He raised his arm again, activating the Aetheris scanner.
[Aetheris Scanning — Calibrating Mana Signature Detection.]
[Environmental Mana: Low.]
[Signal interference: High.]
[Adjusting sensitivity… please wait.]
Lucius turned slowly in a circle, watching as the Aetheris emitted faint holographic ripples through the air — invisible waves scanning the dunes. He faced north. Nothing. East. Nothing.
But the moment he turned west—
[Ping!]
[Mana signature detected.]
[Distance: 4.3 kilometers.]
[Mana Concentration: Medium-High.]
[Potential Source: Mana Vein.]
Lucius's lips twitched upward. "Found you."
The storm howled louder, almost as if protesting.
He looked down at the small, glowing blue coordinates on his wristband and memorized them.
"West, then," he said quietly, eyes glinting through the sand. "If the artifact's really connected to the Mana Vein, then I'm right on schedule."